


Fragments

by Larathia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, SHEITH - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 04:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16824853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larathia/pseuds/Larathia
Summary: A short piece; Shiro moved from the Black Lion to the Green offscreen. But something had to have been said...





	Fragments

"I can't stay here," said Shiro quietly, looking anywhere but at Keith.

It hurt. There was no denying that hearing the words hurt, but Keith was used to not showing more than a flicker when stabbed in the heart, and flying a Lion gave him something else to focus on.

It wasn't a surprise, though. Shiro was not a man who took being ill at all well - he hated and resented being seen as weak. Not because weakness was bad, of itself, but because it had led, far too often, to other people trying to decide what was good for him. Keith was likely the only one left that Shiro could have tolerated the slow recovery from - and there was no getting around this, either - being dead and transplanted into a clone body. But just because he could tolerate it didn't make it a happy state of affairs.

And... "It's Black, isn't it," Keith replied, not taking his eyes from the navigation screen. 

"I can't sense him anymore," Shiro agreed, a little roughly. "I'm sorry, Keith."

It was like a breakup, really. The bond between paladin and lion was as intimate as between family, or lovers. And now Shiro was surrounded by the Lion he'd flown, the Lion that had saved his _soul_ , and he sensed no more of its presence, its intelligence, its feelings, than if he were sitting on the floor of a cargo plane back on Earth. And Shiro could _know_ that this was not a choice of the Lion's, that the lack of connection was because Allura had removed _all_ of Shiro's quintessence from the Lion and thus the connection had been _broken_ , but it still felt like...well, a snub. A cold shoulder. Shiro wasn't in contact with Black, wasn't seated in the pilot's chair, and yet Black surrounded him on all sides. It was hard to read that as anything _but_ the snub of an ex.

Keith had to admit he knew how Shiro felt. Since waking, Shiro had had almost nothing to say to him, and hadn't ...even acted particularly happy to be in Keith's vicinity. And Keith could know that it probably hurt Shiro, to watch Keith sharing the bond with Black that Shiro had once prized, Keith flying what they honestly both really thought of as Shiro's Lion, but it still _felt_ like Shiro was holding something against Keith for how events had transpired.

But there was no giving Black back to Shiro this time. Keith was the Black Paladin whether either of them liked it or not. And part of that was sucking it up when things didn't go the way one might have hoped, or dreamed. Shiro was alive, and himself, and he'd be well again in time, and given how much had had to be done and sacrificed just for _that_ , it was just...selfish, greedy, to lament that there wasn't more. "Who do you want to fly with?" Keith asked, keeping his voice calm, level. This wasn't a judgment, it wasn't a rejection, and any cracks his heart might have were not relevant to the issue at hand.

And maybe it _was_ as hard for Shiro in this moment as it was for Keith, because he didn't answer right away. The silence stretched uncomfortably.

At last, softly enough that only being in deep space with a Lion that probably did understand his paladins quite well allowed it to be heard at all, Shiro said, "I'll ask Pidge if I can fly with her in Green."

Silence stretched again; not because Keith wanted it to, but because he couldn't trust his voice at first. It wasn't a rejection. He knew that. He _did_. But that didn't change that it hurt, however necessary the move might be. Shiro had been through more than ...any human ever had been. It wasn't Black's fault, or Keith's, that Shiro needed to be somewhere else to heal. Pidge was a good choice. She wouldn't ask questions about feelings. At worst she might keep Shiro awake with her video games, but in all honesty that was probably a distraction Shiro could use anyway.

When he was sure he could trust his voice, Keith opened a line to Pidge. "Hey. Pidge. Would you mind if Shiro flew with you a while?"

"What?" answered Pidge's voice. "Why? Oh - is this because Allura took too much of Shiro out of Black?"

Of course, there was Pidge's occasional galactic-level tactlessness to consider, but at least that was something Shiro knew how to deal with. Keith did too; his deadpan, "Yes, Pidge," caused a silence where in all honestly both he and Shiro could hear Pidge blushing.

"Uh. Sure," Pidge managed after a few moments. "Plenty of room. Uh. Come on over."

The wolf padded over to Shiro then, looking up at him. Waiting for the word. 

Shiro walked over to Keith first, putting his human hand on Keith's shoulder, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry, Keith," he repeated, and there was genuine weight behind the simple words. Apologizing not just for today, but for everything that had led up to it.

Keith lifted a hand from the controls to squeeze Shiro's. "It's okay. Just...be well, Shiro." _And come back when you can._

He let go, and so did Shiro. When Shiro lowered his hand to the wolf's ruff, both of them disappeared. A few moments later, the wolf returned and put his head on Keith's lap, looking up at him with eyes that said he knew exactly what his human felt.

Keith ruffled the wolf's fur, breathing deeply. Shit could hit fans any minute, it wouldn't do to let himself get too distracted. Getting everyone home was the priority. Interpersonal anything could wait. The part of him that insisted _but he was dead. He told you he was dead_ got sat on. 

Later. He wasn't dead _now_. And there were other things to deal with now.

The wolf licked Keith's hand, and Keith ruffled his fur again. "Don't worry," he said to it quietly. "It'll be okay."


End file.
